My favorite interior design books

Pages packed with inspiration.

While Instagram, Pinterest or a magazine will always work well for interior inspiration not much can compare with a book that’s entirely dedicated to a design studio’s work and process. Over the past few months, I’ve invested more time flipping through many pages of inspiration and learning the ins and outs of the studios I admire. Here are the books I’m currently loving — and a few of the pages that have become subject to a sticky note or bookmark so I know to return.

Studio Ashby: Home Art Soul

Ten years ago Sophie Ashby launched her London-based design studio at the age of twenty-five with just one client — fast forward to present day where she has a wildly successful career and a new book Studio Ashby: Home Art Soul. The foreword, by Amy Astley (Editor in Chief of Architectural Digest), starts off saying, “Sophie Ashby’s house is my kind of house. Sophie Ashby’s style is my kind of style.” With that type of endorsement from one of interior design’s most notable ladies, it’s clear that Studio Ashby is a force in world of design. The pages are filled with projects ranging from Ashby’s own home to an Edwardian villa once owned by the Peter Pan author J. M. Barrie — all embodying her decorating dictum: a house must be ‘soulful’.

Author Sophie Ashby, Foreword by Amy Astley

Beata Heuman: Every Room Should Sing

In this debut monograph from Swedish-born, London-based interior designer Beata Heuman, she presents ten chapters that discuss different design principles. Each chapter then has a project that is an example of putting that principle into practice. Projects include her own home, a vacation residence in Nantucket and additional spaces in London. In Heuman’s introduction she says, “Although we have all wished to be someone else at some point, we can’t actually be anything but what we are. Having the confidence to not only accept that, but celebrate it through self-expression, in all its strangeness and randomness, is to me the zest of life.” I love how she takes this approach with life and design — confirming that your home’s interiors should truly be a reflection of you. Otherwise, you’ll wake up one day in home that feels not quite right.

Author Beata Heuman

Ashe Leandro

Ariel Ashe and Reinaldo Leandro of Ashe Leandro (AD100 interior design and architectural firm) offer a glimpse at their exciting new design work in this debut publication. Projects are in both urban and country settings and have styles that fuse America’s Southwestern with Latin American and European heritages. The foreword, written by Seth Meyers (who happens to be Ariel Ashe’s brother in law), says that “the greatest thing about their pairing is you can tell them what you want in the vaguest possible terms, and they have the power to shape it into something specific that is beyond your wildest dreams.”

Authors Ariel Ashe and Reinaldo Leandro, Foreword by Seth Meyers, Afterword by Rashid Johnson

Laura Gonzalez: Interiors

“Gonzalez has invented her own style—an increasingly popular one that is often copied but seldom equaled,” says Cédric Saint André Perrin in the introduction of Laura Gonzalez’s debut book. Projects that grace the pages include private residences, boutiques, such as the Cartier mansion in New York, restaurants and hotels such as the Saint James in Paris’s 16th arrondissement, and Gonzalez’s private country house in France. Gonzalez’s sharp eye for pairing palettes and her hallmark whimsical touches have transformed her into one of Paris’s most popular designers.

Author Laura Gonzalez, Text by Cédric Saint André Perrin

A Tale of Interiors

The AD100 firm Pierce & Ward expertly mixes classical and whimsical elements to achieve their signature and irresistible style. As designers for Hollywood powerhouses such as Kate Hudson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Dakota Johnson, Brie Larson and more — they’ve honed their looked of organized abundance and have now filled these pages with spaces that are an ode to the Art of More. Projects within include the homes of Emily Ward and Louisa Pierce along with spaces belonging to Josh Brolin, Melanie Griffith, Kate Hudson and others.

Authors Louisa Pierce, Emily Ward and Catherine Pierce

Artful Home

Artist, designer and tastemaker are three words you could use to describe Josh Young. In his debut book, Young’s introduction gives readers a clear picture of his past and how he’s risen to where he is today. After living in Italy, moving to New York and then Chicago — years of career frustration dotted his journey before settling into a role as a full-time artist. Josh Young Design House was born and the rest is history.

Artful Home is arranged by the five guiding principles that Josh lives by: palette, texture, form, layers and nostalgia. The pages take readers on a journey — sharing how Josh has used these concepts in the decorating of his townhouse in D.C. and his country house in Virginia, Sycamore House.

Author Josh Young

Xx Charlotte